The Lightning Begins to Flash Amongst the People
The evening wore a threatening aspect.
Groups were formed on the Boulevards. As night advanced they grew larger and became mobs, which speedily mingled1 together, and only formed one crowd. An enormous crowd, reinforced and agitated2 by tributary3 currents from the side-streets, jostling one against another, surging, stormy, and whence ascended4 an ominous5 hum. This hubbub6 resolved itself into one word, into one name which issued simultaneously7 from every mouth, and which expressed the whole of the situation: “Soulouque!”12 Throughout that long line from the Madeleine to the Bastille, the roadway nearly everywhere, except (was this on purpose?) at the Porte St. Denis and the Porte St. Martin, was occupied by the soldiers — infantry8 and cavalry9, ranged in battle-order, the artillery10 batteries being harnessed; on the pavements on each side of this motionless and gloomy mass, bristling11 with cannon12, swords, and bayonets, flowed a torrent13 of angry people. On all sides public indignation prevailed. Such was the aspect of the Boulevards. At the Bastille there was a dead calm.
At the Porte St. Martin the crowd, hemmed14 together and uneasy, spoke15 in low tones. Groups of workmen talked in whispers. The Society of the 10th December made some efforts there. Men in white blouses, a sort of uniform which the police assumed during those days, said, “Let us leave them alone; let the ‘Twenty-five francs’ settle it amongst themselves! They deserted16 us in June, 1848; to-day let them get out of the difficulty alone! It does not concern us!” Other blouses, blue blouses, answered them, “We know what we have to do. This is only the beginning, wait and see.”
Others told how the barricades17 of the Rue19 Aumaire were being rebuilt, how a large number of persons had already been killed there, how they fired without any summons, how the soldiers were drunk, how at various points in the district there were ambulances already crowded with killed and wounded. All this was said seriously, without loud speaking, without gesture, in a confidential20 tone. From time to time the crowd were silent and listened, and distant firing was heard.
The groups said, “Now they are beginning to tear down the curtain.”
We were holding Permanent Session at Marie’s house in the Rue Croix des Petits Champs. Promises of co-operation poured in upon us from every side. Several of our colleagues, who had not been able to find us on the previous day, had joined us, amongst others Emmanuel Arago, gallant21 son of an illustrious father; Farconnet and Roussel (de l’Yonne), and some Parisian celebrities22, amongst whom was the young and already well-known defender23 of the Avénement du Peuple, M. Desmarets.
Two eloquent24 men, Jules Favre and Alexander Rey, seated at a large table near the window of the small room, were drawing up a Proclamation to the National Guard. In the large room Sain, seated in an arm-chair, his feet on the dog-irons, drying his wet boots before a huge fire, said, with that calm and courageous25 smile which he wore in the Tribune, “Things are looking badly for us, but well for the Republic. Martial26 law is proclaimed; it will be carried out with ferocity, above all against us. We are laid in wait for, followed, tracked, there is little probability that we shall escape. To-day, to-morrow, perhaps in ten minutes, there will be a ‘miniature massacre’ of Representatives. We shall be taken here or elsewhere, shot down on the spot or killed with bayonet thrusts. They will parade our corpses28, and we must hope that that will at length raise the people and overthrow29 Bonaparte. We are dead, but Bonaparte is lost.”
At eight o’clock, as Emile de Girardin had promised, we received from the printing office of the Presse five hundred copies of the decree of deposition30 and of outlawry31 endorsing32 the judgment33 of the High Court, and with all our signatures attached. It was a placard twice as large as one’s hand, and printed on paper used for proofs. No?l Parfait brought us the five hundred copies, still damp, between his waistcoat and his shirt. Thirty Representatives divided the bills amongst them, and we sent them on the Boulevards to distribute the Decree to the People.
The effect of this Decree falling in the midst of the crowd was marvellous. Some cafés had remained open, people eagerly snatched the bills, they pressed round the lighted shop windows, they crowded under the street lamps. Some mounted on kerbstones or on tables, and read aloud the Decree.—“That is it! Bravo!” cried the people. “The signatures!” “The signatures!” they shouted. The signatures were read out, and at each popular name the crowd applauded. Charamaule, merry and indignant, wandered through the groups, distributing copies of the Decree; his great stature34, his loud and bold words, the packet of handbills which he raised, and waved above his head, caused all hands to be stretched out towards him. “Shout ‘Down with Soulouque!’” said he, “and you shall have some.” All this in the presence of the soldiers. Even a sergeant35 of the line, noticing Charamaule, stretched out his hand for one of the bills which Charamaule was distributing. “Sergeant,” said Charamaule to him, “cry, ‘Down with Soulouque!’” The sergeant hesitated for a moment, and answered “No.” “Well, then,” replied Charamaule, “Shout, ‘Long live Soulouque.’” This time the sergeant did not hesitate, he raised his sword, and, amid bursts of laughter and of applause, he resolutely36 shouted, “Long live Soulouque!”
The reading of the Decree added a gloomy warmth to the popular anger. They set to work on all sides to tear down the placards of the coup37 d’état. At the door of the Café des Variétés a young man cried out to the officers, “You are drunk!” Some workmen on the Boulevard Bonne–Nouvelle shook their fists at the soldiers and said, “Fire, then, you cowards, on unarmed men! If we had guns you would throw the butts38 of your muskets39 in the air.” Charges of cavalry began to be made in front of the Café Cardinal40.
As there were no troops on the Boulevard St. Martin and the Boulevard du Temple, the crowd was more compact pact41 there than elsewhere. All the shops were shut there; the street lamps alone gave any light. Against the gloss42 of the unlighted windows heads might be dimly seen peering out. Darkness produced silence; this multitude, as we have already said, was hushed. There was only heard a confused whispering. Suddenly a light, a noise, an uproar43 burst forth44 from the entrance of the Rue St. Martin. Every eye was turned in that direction; a profound upheaving agitated the crowd; they rushed forward, they pressed against the railings of the high pavements which border the cutting between the theatres of the Porte St. Martin and the Ambigu. A moving mass was seen, and an approaching light. Voices were singing. This formidable chorus was recognized,
“Aux armes, Citoyens; formez vos bataillons!”
Lighted torches were coming, it was the “Marseillaise,” that other torch of Revolution and of warfare45 which was blazing.
The crowd made way for the mob which carried the torches, and which were singing. The mob reached the St. Martin cutting, and entered it. It was then seen what this mournful procession meant. The mob was composed of two distinct groups. The first carried on its shoulders a plank46, on which could be seen stretched an old man with a white beard, stark47, the mouth open, the eyes fixed48, and with a hole in his forehead. The swinging movement of the bearers shook the corpse27, and the dead head rose and fell in a threatening and pathetic manner. One of the men who carried him, pale, and wounded in the breast, placed his hand to his wound, leant against the feet of the old man, and at times himself appeared ready to fall. The other group bore a second litter, on which a young man was stretched, his countenance49 pale and his eyes closed, his shirt stained, open over his breast, displaying his wounds. While bearing the two litters the groups sang. They sang the “Marseillaise,” and at each chorus they stopped and raised their torches, crying, “To arms!” Some young men waved drawn50 swords. The torches shed a lurid51 light on the pallid52 foreheads of the corpses and on the livid faces of the crowd. A shudder53 ran through the people. It appeared as though they again saw the terrible vision of February, 1848.
This gloomy procession came from the Rue Aumaire. About eight o’clock some thirty workmen gathered together from the neighborhood of the markets, the same who on the next day raised the barricade18 of the Guérin-Boisseau, reached the Rue Aumaire by the Rue de Petit Lion, the Rue Neuve–Bourg-l’Abbé, and the Carré St. Martin. They came to fight, but here the combat was at an end. The infantry had withdrawn54 after having pulled down the barricades. Two corpses, an old man of seventy and a young man of five-and-twenty, lay at the corner of the street on the ground, with uncovered faces, their bodies in a pool of blood, their heads on the pavement where they had fallen. Both were dressed in overcoats, and seemed to belong to the middle class. The old man had his hat by his side; he was a venerable figure with a white beard, white hair, and a calm expression. A ball had pierced his skull55.
The young man’s breast was pierced with buck-shot. One was the father, the other the son. The son, seeing his father fall, had said, “I also will die.” Both were lying side by side.
Opposite the gateway56 of the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers there was a house in course of building. They fetched two planks57 from it, they laid the corpses on the planks, the crowd raised them upon their shoulders, they brought torches, and they began their march. In the Rue St. Denis a man in a white blouse barred the way. “Where are you going?” said he to them. “You will bring about disasters! You are helping58 the ‘Twenty-five francs!’” “Down with the police! Down with the white blouse!” shouted the crowd. The man slunk away.
The mob swelled59 on its road; the crowd opened out and repeated the “Marseillaise” in chorus, but with the exception of a few swords no one was armed. On the boulevard the emotion was intense. Women clasped their hands in pity. Workmen were heard to exclaim, “And to think that we have no arms!”
The procession, after having for some time followed the Boulevards, re-entered the streets, followed by a deeply-affected and angry multitude. In this manner it reached the Rue de Gravilliers. Then a squad60 of twenty sergents de ville suddenly emerging from a narrow street rushed with drawn swords upon the men who were carrying the litters, and overturned the corpses into the mud. A regiment61 of Chasseurs came up at the double, and put an end to the conflict with bayonet thrusts. A hundred and two citizen prisoners were conducted to the Prefecture. The two corpses received several sword-cuts in the confusion, and were killed a second time. The brigadier Revial, who commanded the squad of the sergents de ville, received the Cross of Honor for this deed of arms.
At Marie’s we were on the point of being surrounded. We decided62 to leave the Rue Croix des Petits Champs.
At the Elysée they commenced to tremble. The ex-Commandant Fleury, one of the aides-de-camp of the Presidency63, was summoned into the little room where M. Bonaparte had remained throughout the day. M. Bonaparte conferred a few moments alone with M. Fleury, then the aide-de-camp came out of the room, mounted his horse, and galloped64 off in the direction of Mazas.
After this the men of the coup d’état met together in M. Bonaparte’s room, and held council. Matters were visibly going badly; it was probable that the battle would end by assuming formidable proportions. Up to that time they had desired this, now they did not feel sure that they did not fear it. They pushed forward towards it, but they mistrusted it. There were alarming symptoms in the steadfastness65 of the resistance, and others not less serious in the cowardice66 of adherents67. Not one of the new Ministers appointed during the morning had taken possession of his Ministry68 — a significant timidity on the part of people ordinarily so prompt to throw themselves upon such things. M. Roulier, in particular, had disappeared, no one knew where — a sign of tempest. Putting Louis Bonaparte on one side, the coup d’état continued to rest solely69 upon three names, Morny, St. Arnaud, and Maupas. St. Arnaud answered for Magnan. Morny laughed and said in a whisper, “But does Magnan answer for St. Arnaud?” These men adopted energetic measures, they sent for new regiments70; an order to the garrisons71 to march upon Paris was despatched in the one direction as far as Cherbourg, and on the other as far as Maubeuge. These criminals, in the main deeply uneasy, sought to deceive each other. They assumed a cheerful countenance; all spoke of victory; each in the background arranged for flight; in secret, and saying nothing, in order not to give the alarm to his compromised colleagues, so as, in case of failure, to leave the people some men to devour72. For this little school of Machiavellian73 apes the hopes of a successful escape lie in the abandonment of their friends. During their flight they throw their accomplices74 behind them.
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1
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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tributary
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| n.支流；纳贡国；adj.附庸的；辅助的；支流的 | |
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ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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hubbub
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| n.嘈杂；骚乱 | |
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simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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infantry
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| n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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bristling
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| a.竖立的 | |
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cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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torrent
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| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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hemmed
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| 缝…的褶边( hem的过去式和过去分词 )； 包围 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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16
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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barricades
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| 路障，障碍物( barricade的名词复数 ) | |
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barricade
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| n.路障，栅栏，障碍；vt.设路障挡住 | |
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rue
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| n.懊悔，芸香，后悔；v.后悔，悲伤，懊悔 | |
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confidential
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| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
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gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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celebrities
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| n.（尤指娱乐界的）名人( celebrity的名词复数 )；名流；名声；名誉 | |
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23
defender
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| n.保卫者，拥护者，辩护人 | |
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24
eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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25
courageous
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| adj.勇敢的，有胆量的 | |
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martial
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| adj.战争的，军事的，尚武的，威武的 | |
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27
corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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corpses
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| n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 ) | |
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29
overthrow
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| v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆 | |
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30
deposition
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| n.免职，罢官；作证；沉淀；沉淀物 | |
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31
outlawry
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| 宣布非法，非法化，放逐 | |
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32
endorsing
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| v.赞同( endorse的现在分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品 | |
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33
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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stature
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| n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材 | |
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35
sergeant
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| n.警官，中士 | |
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36
resolutely
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| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
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37
coup
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| n.政变；突然而成功的行动 | |
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38
butts
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| 笑柄( butt的名词复数 )； （武器或工具的）粗大的一端； 屁股； 烟蒂 | |
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39
muskets
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| n.火枪，（尤指）滑膛枪( musket的名词复数 ) | |
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40
cardinal
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| n.(天主教的)红衣主教；adj.首要的，基本的 | |
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41
pact
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| n.合同，条约，公约，协定 | |
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42
gloss
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| n.光泽，光滑；虚饰；注释；vt.加光泽于；掩饰 | |
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43
uproar
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| n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸 | |
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44
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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45
warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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46
plank
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| n.板条，木板，政策要点，政纲条目 | |
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47
stark
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| adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地 | |
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48
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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49
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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50
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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51
lurid
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| adj.可怕的；血红的；苍白的 | |
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52
pallid
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| adj.苍白的，呆板的 | |
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53
shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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54
withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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55
skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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56
gateway
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| n.大门口，出入口，途径，方法 | |
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57
planks
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| （厚）木板( plank的名词复数 )； 政纲条目，政策要点 | |
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58
helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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59
swelled
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| 增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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60
squad
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| n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组 | |
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regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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62
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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63
presidency
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| n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期) | |
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64
galloped
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| （使马）飞奔，奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 )； 快速做[说]某事 | |
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65
steadfastness
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| n.坚定，稳当 | |
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66
cowardice
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| n.胆小，怯懦 | |
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67
adherents
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| n.支持者，拥护者( adherent的名词复数 )；党羽；徒子徒孙 | |
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68
ministry
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| n.(政府的)部；牧师 | |
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69
solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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70
regiments
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| （军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物 | |
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71
garrisons
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| 守备部队，卫戍部队( garrison的名词复数 ) | |
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72
devour
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| v.吞没；贪婪地注视或谛听，贪读；使着迷 | |
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73
machiavellian
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| adj.权谋的，狡诈的 | |
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74
accomplices
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| 从犯，帮凶，同谋( accomplice的名词复数 ) | |
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